Thomas Blanton

Thomas Blanton (born 1955, Greensboro, Georgia, USA) is the director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, a non-governmental organization dedicated to using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain and publish declassified U.S. government documents. His work has contributed to transparency on classified military programs, including those at Area 51 (Groom Lake), which some UFO enthusiasts associate with extraterrestrial technology storage and reverse-engineering. Blanton has highlighted the U.S. government's gradual declassification of Area 51's existence and role since the 1990s, describing it as a 'grudging' process that accelerated post-Cold War. He views independent monitoring of such sites, like that by researcher Joerg Arnu, as valuable public service. While the Archive avoids pursuing UFO-specific secrets, Blanton's efforts have indirectly advanced UAP-related disclosures by revealing spy plane histories often mistaken for UFOs. No direct UAP research, publications, or testimony by Blanton are documented.